Graph of the Day: Average US Household Income and Change in Share of Income, 1979-2007

Source: Congressional Budget Office [pdf] A huge share of the nation’s economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244. Note: The 2007 data (the most current) […]

Arab uprisings foreshadow climate havoc, says British diplomat

By Gerard Wynn, ReutersWednesday, February 23, 2011 LONDON: A string of Arab uprisings are giving a foretaste of the likely havoc that climate change will cause without greater effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions, a British Foreign Ministry official warned. Soaring food prices, stoked by Russia’s drought last year and subsequent ban on wheat exports, […]

50 million climate refugees to flood the global north by 2020

February 22, 2011 (AFP) — Fifty million “environmental refugees” will flood into the global north by 2020, fleeing food shortages sparked by climate change, experts warned at a major science conference that ended here Monday. “In 2020, the UN has projected that we will have 50 million environmental refugees,” Cristina Tirado, a professor at the […]

At Grave Risk: The American Dream

By BOB HERBERTFebruary 21, 2011 A 46-year-old teacher in Charlotte, Vt., who has been unable to find a full-time job and is weighed down with debt, wrote to his U.S. senator, Bernie Sanders: “I am financially ruined. I find myself depressed and demoralized and my confidence is shattered. Worst of all, as I hear more […]

The 2010 / 2011 La Niña leaves human and economic toll in its wake, pushing global commodity prices up

Source: Maplecroft15 Feb 2011 The role of climate change in the recent catalogue of meteorological disasters will be hotly debated. It is widely acknowledged that a warming world will impact cyclone activity and rainfall patterns. However, the impact on the intensity of La Niña events remains uncertain. Event The 2010/2011 La Niña episode has left […]

2.4 million in Somalia face drought: UN

By Staff WritersFeb 17, 2011 United Nations (AFP) – Somalia, home to one of the world’s largest population of displaced people, is teetering on a crisis with drought now threatening some 2.4 million people, a UN official said Thursday. “Somalia … is on the brink of a much larger disaster due to the threat of […]

Climate change may cause ‘massive’ food disruptions

By Luzi Ann Javier and Susan Li, with assistance from Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in London and Anand Menon in Singapore. Editors: Matthew Oakley, Jarrett BanksFebruary 15, 2011, 6:00 AM EST Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — Global food supplies will face “massive disruptions” from climate change, Olam International Ltd. predicted, as Agrocorp International Pte. said corn will gain […]

Food price hike drives 44 million people into poverty since June 2010

Press Release No:2011/333/PREM WASHINGTON, February 15, 2011 – Rising food prices have driven an estimated 44 million people into poverty in developing countries since last June as food costs continue to rise to near 2008 levels, according to new World Bank Group numbers released ahead of the G20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank […]

Photo gallery: Seven Billion

There will soon be seven billion people on the planet. By 2045 global population is projected to reach nine billion. Can the planet take the strain? By Robert KunzigJanuary 2011 …Antoni van Leeuwenhoek started with an estimate that around a million people lived in Holland. Using maps and a little spherical geometry, he calculated that […]

Drought and desertification a growing threat to food security – 30 million acres lost each year

By Laurie Goering11 Feb 2011 15:47 LONDON (AlertNet) – Increasing drought and aridity around the world, linked to climate change and land degradation, are becoming a major threat to food security and poverty reduction efforts, according to the United Nations’ anti-desertification chief. Stepping up investment in restoring degraded land and curbing desertification could work toward […]

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